Post Super System Play

[theBruiser500]

I posted on the books forum asking how Super System's section on NL hold'em was outdated. The replies I got said that it was outdated because everyone now knows the tactics and strategies Brunson advocated in his book. They said that since everyone already knows what he wrote there, you have to make adjustments. What are some typical changes people make from the play suggested in Super System?

danny

[crockpot]

i don't think the information there is outdated, but you have to make lots of adjustments from doyle's game to party no-limit. first of all, doyle played in games where players had 500 or 1000 big blinds on the table instead of 50. that makes a HUGE difference in your play, particularly in two avenues: implied odds are much better, and a bet carried much more intimidation, because you were threatened by much bigger bets on later rounds if you called this one.

a lot of the plays he discusses, like playing straight draws aggressively, lose a ton of value in games with shallow money. you are less likely to get a hand like top pair, weak kicker to fold, and can extract less money on future rounds if you hit your hand.

in general, with shallow money:

- disguising your hand is much less important
- 'hitting to the nuts' is much less important
- drawing hands are much worse because you are denied the huge implied odds you get when the money is deep

other than that, all you really have to do is adjust for the weak opposition you encounter, which is basically just by bluffing less and being more willing to bet moderate hands for value, and less willing to try and pick off bluffs, unless you know an opponent is aggressive.

[theBruiser500]

I hadn't realized that difference, how Brunson used to play with stacks of 500 or 1000 big blinds. That's particularly relevant because in the game I play in, the blinds are .50-1 and by the end of the night most people have at least a couple hundred in front of them, some have a thousand.

danny

[tewall]

Brunson's style would work because of the intimidation factor crockpot mentioned. They knew at any time there whole stack could be put at risk. He was willing to take the losing end of the stick on the all-ins because he could pick up enough pots to pay for it by the earlier aggression.

He said after he wrote the book, this style quit working for him because people would make him show them hands more. So he switched to a more conservative style.

The biggest mistake in the smaller games is people calling too much, which Doyle addresses in his book (used to know the page number) saying that against such players "you have to show them a hand". So the strategy is very straight forward. Just play solid poker and show down good hands.